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STATEMENT 



OF THE 



NATIVES OF KORYTSA AND KOLONIA 



MEMBERS OF THE PAN-EPIROTIC UNION 
IN AMERICA 



m 



REPLY TO THE DECLARATION OF 
THE PAN-ALBANIAN FEDERATION 

IN AMERICA 



DECEMBER • 1919 



THE PAN-EPIROTIC UNION IN AMERICA 

7 WATER STREET, BOSTON, MASS. 



m 






CHAIRMAN OF THE PEACE CONFERENCE 
PARIS, FRANCE 

In the month of May we addressed to your Excellency a memoran- 
dum stating the reasons for which we believed that the Districts of 
Korytsa and Kolonia should be united with Greece/ That memoran- 
dum was signed by nearly 2,000 natives of those Districts, residents 
of the United States of America. 

The Pan-Albanian Federation in America has replied a few 
months later, accusing us of having deliberately misstated the case of 
the Districts of Korytsa and Kolonia. We ask, therefore, the indul- 
gence of the Peace Conference to reply to those accusations briefly: 

(1) We are attacked because in our memorandum of May we 
stated that "the Christian population of those Districts constitutes 
the object of the Peace Delegation's concern." In that statement the 
Christian Epirotes were far from advocating that the interests of 
Mohammedans should be sacrificed to the Christian Epirotes. We 
have merely stated the opinion already expressed at the Peace Con- 
ference that whenever Christians and Moslems are intermixed in 
nearly equal numbers and a decision is to be made as to who should 
have the right of governing the other, it has always followed the 
policy of placing the Moslems under the government of Christians, 
rather than of placing the Christians under Moslem rule. 

(2) We regret that the Albanian memorandum conveys the 
impression that our statement concerning the sentiments of the 47,827 
Christians in Korytsa and Kolonia was based solely on "letters that 
are supposed to have been received from people living in those 
Districts, and upon fantastical school statistics in regard to the Dis- 
trict of Korytsa." ' 

Our memorandum of last May asks the Peace Conference to refer 
to the French Military Governor of Korytsa and receive from him 

1 See Appendix 1. 
- See Appendix 2. 



an authentic statement as to the national sentiments of the Christians 
under French Administration in Korytsa. 

May we, however, adduce a few more proofs of the Hellenic 
sentiments of the people of that District? 

(a) The testimony of foreigners who have visited the Sandjak 
of Korytsa : 

Arnold Toynbee, of King's College, London, in his "Greek 
Policies Since 1883," writes: 

"Greek nationalism is not an artificial conception of theorists, 
but a real force which impels all fragments of Greek-speaking popu- 
lations to make sustained efforts towards political union within the 
national state. The most striking example of this attractive power 
is afforded by the problem of Epirus (Himarra, Argyrocastro, 
Korytsa." (Page 26.) 

Rene Puaux, in La Malheureuse Epire, 1913, writes: 

"Ten thousand Epirotes, refugees, have arrived here (Corfu). 
The Albanians have burned their homes. 

"But after the fall of Jannina, hope has filled their hearts. In the 
future the Greek Province of Epirus will be free. Under the protec- 
tion of the Greek flag, they will return to Parga, Senitsa, Nivitsa, 
Korytsa." 

(b) The revolution in 1914 against Albania: 

"The rising which is now embarrassing Prince William and is 
causing him to contemplate taking the field at the head of an Albanian 
Army was only to be expected. The Epirotes are behaving in the 
manner that could confidently have been predicted." Spectator, 
London, April 11, 1911. 

"The 250,000 Greeks who were included in the new Albania by 
the Powers are reported in revolt. The Greeks of Epirus expected 
to be united with their fatherland under the treaty parceling out the 
Balkan territory and were disappointed, so they propose fighting 
to bring Greek Epirus under the Greek flag. Reports in the European 
press say that they hold the important town of Korytsa." The Liter- 
ary Digest, April 18, 1914. 



In a lecture delivered in Morley Hall, January 7, 1913, entitled 
"Northern Epirus in 1913," Colonel Murray, A.M.,C.B.,N.V.O., said: 

"The Premeti and Argyrocastro battalions are composed of as 
fine a body of fighting men as there are in Europe. 

"There are five thousand well-trained men of the Sacred Legion 
in the Korytsa District alone, and even if they do not get enough help 
from other parts of Epirus, they are numerous and strong enough 
with their local knowledge of the country to hold their own against 
the Albanian force which could reach them from Berat. We may 
depend upon it that if the Epirotes are forced to fight, they will fight 
to a finish." 

(c) Other witnesses: The war correspondents of the great 
European Dailies, Franz Jensen, of the Matin; Rene Puaux, of the 
Temps; Magrini, of the Secolo; Engnath, of the Koelnische Zeitung; 
Herr Tschentcher, of the Berlin Central Press; Captain Trapman, of 
the Daily Telegraph; C. S. Butler, of the Daily Mail, etc' 

(3) We are accused of having given "fantastical school statis- 
tics." We give the school statistics of foreigners generally recognized 
as Balkan authorities, as well as of natives of Epirus.' 

(a) Amadori Virgili, in La Questione Riimeliota e la Politica 
Italiana, published by the Institute Geographico de Agostini, Rome, 
1908, gives for the Sandjak of Korytsa 51 Greek schools, with 10,395 
Greek scholars, and only one Albanian school, with 60 Albanian 
scholars.' 

Mr. C. S. Butler wrote in the Manchester Guardian of September 
30, 1914: 

"At Korytsa, where my visit coincided with that of the Greek Crown 
Prince in May of last year (1913), I witnessed a parade of 2,125 Greek 
school children of both sexes from five years up to sixteen, who 
beamed with joy and pride as they filed past the Prince, cheering 
and waving their little Greek flags. The same day I witnessed an 
enthusiastic parade of the women of the town, foremost among whom 
I noticed my own hostess, who habitually speaks Albanian in her 
own home. I find it hard to believe that these 1900 women, all of 
whom were respectable middle-class matrons, were secretly pining 

1 See Appendix 2. 
' See Appendix 3. 
s See Appendix 3. 



for the delights of Albanian rule and were driven to this demonstra- 
tion at the point of the Greek bayonet. Indeed, I can testify that it 
almost required a bayonet to persuade them to disperse after the 
celebration. And yet, we have been assured for years by Miss Dur- 
ham and other Albanian sympathizers, that Korytsa is the intellectual 
centre of the Albanian race ! The only traces of Albanian educational 
movement I was able to discover there were a small Albanian printing 
press, established under foreign encouragement some years ago, and 
now no longer in operation, and an Albanian school for girls, 
founded and carried on by American missionaries, with some sixty 
pupils, recruited from the whole Province of Korytsa." 

Colonel Murray, in his lecture which we have mentioned above, 
said: 

"I shall never forget standing at Korytsa, side by side with one of 
the International Commissioners, who shall be nameless, and who 
was watching the scene passing in the street below us. A procession 
was going by the house in the midst of which were the girls of the 
school, waving their flags and singing national songs of liberty, when 
one girl stopped before the house and held up a scroll on which she 
had embroidered with great labor in letters of gold the words, 'Enosis 
e Thanatos,' Union or Death. She just held up the scroll for us to see, 
and I never can forget the sweet, gentle, upturned face, majestic in 
its childishness, and beautiful in its innocence, and yet expressive of 
her brave determination to suffer, if required to do so, for hearth and 
home and nationality and faith. I could see the tears stand in the 
diplomatist's eyes as he turned away with the words, 'I can stand 
this no longer. If I look any more I shall break down and be accused 
of being a Philhellene.' Even diplomacy has its human side." 

(4) We are accused of attempts to minimize the numbers of the 
Albanians in the United States. The Albanian Federation, in all its 
memoranda which have come to our attention, declares that the 
number of Albanians in the United States is from 60,000 to 70,000. 
Mr. C. Chekrezi, the editor of a book "Albania," declares that the 
number of Albanians in the United States is 40,000. Mr. Chekrezi is 
an executive officer of the Albanian Federation in America, 



The numbers given by the Albanian Federation, as well as by Mr, 
Chekrezi, are altogether exaggerated. We base this statement upon 
official information : 

(a) The United States census of 1910, in stating the number of 
aliens in the country, gives only 2,235 Albanians. That census was 
taken on the basis of mother tongue. It is well known that practically 
all the Northern Epirotes use an Albanian patois as their mother 
tongue. It is, therefore, not unlikely that many Greek Epirotes are 
included in the number 2,235, reported to constitute the Albanian 
nationality in the United States in 1910. 

(b) Since 1910, the Immigration Bureau has no records of 
Albanian nationality having entered the United States. 

The Albanian Federation, in its memorandum under consider- 
ation, explains the absence of the Albanian nationality in the records 
of the Immigration Bureau in this manner: 

"The largest number of Albanian immigrants came to the United 
States since the occupation of Southern Albania, including Northern 
Epirus, by the Greek troops, in 1912, and especially after the fatal 
year of 1914, when fugitives and refugees arrived in America." 

"Moreover, the report of the Bureau of Immigration that in its 
records there is no Albanian nationality is easily explained by the 
fact that the immigration authorities listed the Albanians as Ottoman 
subjects, the United States having never had an occasion of recogniz- 
ing the short-lived independent State of Albania." 

In other words, the Albanian Federation in America admits that 
until 1910 there were no more than 2,235 Albanians in the United 
States; that the additional "68,000" Albanians now here have entered 
the country since 1912; and that they are "listed as Ottoman subjects." 

We have applied to the Immigration Bureau at Washington. The 
authorities were very kind to furnish us with the following table, 
entiiled Immigration from Turkey (European and Asiatic) from 1912 
to 1919: 



Europe 
Asia 



Armen. 
394 



3,146 7,134 
42 2,147 



Hebrew Roum. 
760 135 

621 5 



Syrian 

64 

4,654 



Total by 
Races 



2,580 
281 



Total 
14,481 
12,788 





Total 


4,636 


3,188 


9,281 


1,381 


140 


4,718 


1,164 


2,861 


27,269 


1913 


Europe 
Asia 


442 
7,369 


1,589 
38 


9,374 
5,192 


1,007 
1,046 


101 

1 


48 
8,224 


303 
1,385 


1,264 
701 


14.128 
23,955 




Total 


7,811 


1,627 


14,566 


2,053 


102 


8,272 


1,688 


1,965 


38,083 


1914 


Europe 
Asia 


353 
6,097 


782 
37 


3,631 
4,946 


1,408 
844 


57 
7 


50 
7,772 


504 
1.683 


1,414 
330 


8.199 
21.716 




Total 


6,450 


819 


8,577 


2,252 


64 


7,822 


2,187 


1,744 


29.915 


1915 


Europe 
Asia 


67 
526 


5 


647 
1,460 


156 
324 


7 


8 
1,036 


25 
84 


59 
108 


1,008 
3,543 




Total 


593 


44 


2,107 


480 


7 


1,044 


109 


167 


4,551 


1916 


Europe 
Asia 


28 
112 





229 
1,279 


23 
235 


_ 


30 


8 

7 


25 
7 


313 
1,670 




Total 


140 





1,508 


258 


— 


30 


15 


32 


1,983 


1917 


Europe 
Asia 


12 
83 


3 
1 


111 
205 


12 
82 





5 


12 
10 


2 
7 


152 
393 




Total 


95 


4 


316 


94 


— 


5 


22 


9 


545 


1918 


Europe 
Asia 


15 
13 


— 


9 
7 


2 


— 


8 


3 


11 


25 
44 




Total 


28 





16 


2 


— 


8 


3 


11 


58 


1919 


Europe 
Asia 


4 
9 





2 

1 


3 


- 


2 





1 

7 


10 
19 




Total 


13 





3 


3 


— 


2 





8 


29 



19,766 5,683 36.374 6.523 



It is easily seen that from 1912 to 1919 the total number of Turks 
who entered the United States is 5,188, of whom only 1,220 came from 
European Turkey. It is unnecessary for us to slate that all the Albani- 
ans come from European Turkey. We have, then, 2,235 Albanians 
until 1916, and 1,220 Turks from Europe until 1919, or a total of 
3,455. It is readily recognized that neither the United States census 
of 1910 nor the Immigration Bureau at Washington could have com- 
mitted such an enormous error of reporting nearly 4,000 Albanians 
in lieu of 70,000 which are reported by the Albanian Federation in 
America. 



But the memorandum of the Albanian Federation in America 
tries to give an additional explanation for the absence of the 70,000 
Albanians in the records of the Immigration authorities in the United 
States. It asserts that the Christian Albanians "fugitives and 
refugees" came to this country "with Greek passports." This asser- 
tion is altogether absurd. "Refugees and fugitives" fleeing the Greeks 
could not equip themselves with "Greek passports." 

6 



The Albanian Federation refers the Peace Delegates to the "statis- 
tics of registration for the selective draft conducted in June, 1917, 
by the United States Government." 

The following is a letter from the Adjutant General's Office at 
Washington, in reply to our inquiry whether the number of Alban- 
ians registered under the War Act (Selective Draft) of June, 1917, 
could be determined: 

"The Adjutant General's Office 

Room 248, December 17, 1919 
"Dear Mr. Cassavetes: 

"There is no data at present available from which a statement 
can be made showing the number of Albanians who registered or 
were inducted under the Act of 1917, or who registered during the 
period of the war. Such information may possibly be included in 
the third and final report which is now in the hands of the printers 
and is not accessible. 

"The a. G. 0. — War Dept." 

It is so curious that the Albanian memorandum should refer 
us for accurate information on the numbers of Albanians in the 
United States to the Adjutant General's office. It is evident from the 
letter of the Adjutant General that the Albanian Federation could 
not have had any information from that office. In this case also, 
the insincerity of the Albanian memorandum becomes very clear. 

The United States Treasury Department has been kind to inform 
us that the number of Albanians in this Country is about 4,000.' The 
Treasury Department has secured its information in connection with 
the Liberty Loan Drives from the Albanian societies in America. 

With the United States Census figures, with the figures of the 
United States Immigration Bureau, and those of the United States 
Treasury Department, we believe our statement that the Albanian 
Federation in America deliberately misrepresents facts, is correct. 
But in order that the Peace Conference may have every available 
evidence of the unfair methods and the undignified manner in which 
the Albanian propaganda is attempting to misrepresent the sentiment 

» In reply to a letter from us to the Treasury Department (Liberty Loan Division), we have 
received the following note on December 3, 1919 : "Albanians — Total in United States about 4,000. 
Largest number in Massachusetts about 1,600." 



of our people of Korytsa and Kolonia, we beg leave to state that we 
have ourselves carried out an investigation, the result of which agrees 
completely with the numbers of Albanians given by the official United 
States authorities. 

In the New York Herald (Paris edition of April 1, 1919), the 
following statement was issued by the Albanian Delegation at 
Paris: 

"The following despatch has been cabled from Boston by the 
Orthodox Albanian Communities settled throughout the United 
States. It formulates the aspiration of all the Albanian Christians to 
be attached politically to the Albanian State: 

'To Mehmed Konitza, Grand Hotel, Paris. 
Boston, Saturday. — Please communicate to President Wilson, Barone 
Sonnine and Premiers Lloyd George and Clemenceau the following 
resolution unanimously passed on March 16 by the Holy Council of 
the Albanian Orthodox Church of America and signed by the Russian 
Archbishop, Alexander Bew, Albanian clergy and 124 Orthodox Chris- 
tian delegates, natives of South Albania, now residing in all parts of 
the United States and Canada: 

"The undersigned clergymen and laymen, delegates representing 
the following fifty-two Orthodox Albanian churches and communi 
ties of the United States: Boston, Lynn, Peabody, Quincy, Brockton^ 
Taunton, Worcester, Southbridge, Springfield, Fitchburg, Hudson, 
Marlboro, Framingham, Natick, Woonsocket, Lonsdale, Central Falls 
Biddeford, Saco, Lewiston, Bath, New Bedford, Albany, Rochester 
Syracuse, Buffalo, New York, Manchester, Concord, Laconia, Tilton, 
Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Seattle, Detroit, Philadelphia, Brad 
dock, Pittsburgh, New Florence, Portsmouth, Atlantic City, Akron 
Youngstown, Niles, Barberton, Waterbury, Bridgeport, Grosvenor 
dale, Jamestown, Lowell, Cleveland, Rochdale, and representatives 
of the Roumanian Church, all of them natives of Southern Albania, 
assembled in convention under the presidency of His Grace the 
Russian Archbishop of North America, Alexander, for the purpose 
of the election of an Albanian Orthodox Bishop, protest with indig- 
nation against the absurd allegation of M. Venizelos that the Ortho- 
dox Albanians of Southern Albania favor union with Greece. 
(Signed) Kol Tromara.' " 



We have written to the Mayors of the cities and towns enumerated 
above and have asked from them a statement as to the number of 
Albanians. We have also asked whether there were any Albanian 
"communities" or churches, or schools in the above-cited cities. The 
following table contains the results of that investigation. The orig- 
inal affidavits have been sent to Paris to the Greek Epirotic Delega- 
tion.' We hope that they have already come to the attention of the 
Peace Conference. 

1 See Appendix 4. 



NUMBER OF ALBANIANS IN THE UNITED STATES ACCORDING TO AFFIDAVITS 
FROM MAYORS OF THE FOLLOWING CITIES: i 
City Christians Moslems Total Communities Churches Schools 

Boston 100 50 150 1 1 

Lynn 35 15 50 

Peabody 40 12 52 

Quincy 

Brockton 45 15 60 

Taunton 20 20 

Worcester 170 80 250 1 1 

Southbridge 15 110 125 1 1 

Springfield 3 3 

Fitehburg 7 40 47 

rZo;:::::::::::::::} 35 o 35 o 00 

Framingham 90 10 100 

Natick 

Woonsocket 15 15 

Lonsdale 35 150 185 

Central Falls 18 18 

sicff?"^.:::::::::::::::} " ^^^ 417 o 00 

Lewistoii... 15 10 25 

Bath 20 15 35 

New Bedford 390 10 400 1 1 . 

Albany 

Rochester 

Syracuse 

Buffalo 40 5 45 

Laconia 

Tilton 

Chicago 

St. Louis 45 105 150 

Milwaukee 45 19 64 

Seattle 53 53 

Detroit 33 70 103 

Philadelphia 45 450 495 1 1 

Braddock 80 80 

Pittsburgh 10 200 210 

New Florence 

Portsmouth 

Atlantic City 

Akron 60 20 80 

Youngstown 

Niles 

Barberton 35 10 45 

Waterbury 30 300 330 

Bridgeport 25 45 70 

Grosvenordale 60 60 

Jamestown 95 10 105 

Lowell 

Cleveland 32 2 34 

Rochdale 

New York 

Manchester 120 10 130 

Concord 29 19 48 

Total 1,809 2,322 4,131 5 5 

1 See samples of affidavits. Appendix 4. 

10 



Our independent investigation shows that the number of the 
Albanians in the 36 most important centres of Albanians in the 
United States is 4,131. It must be stated here that in many cities 
the authorities are unable to discover any Albanians. This is due 
to the insignificant number of Albanians there. Often the number 
of Albanians does not rise beyond ten. But for propaganda pur- 
poses, the Albanian Federation represents even such small colonies 
as branches of the Vatra, and denominates them "Albanian Com- 
munities" with the purpose of misleading the Peace Conference to 
imagine that the number of Albanians there is considerable if they 
constitute an Albanian Community. 

The table indicates that there are in the United States only five 
Albanian Greek Orthodox Churches. The cable to the Peace Confer- 
ence which was quoted above from the New York Herald was couched 
to mislead the Delegates to the Peace Conference to believe that there 
were 52 Albanian Greek Orthodox Churches in the United States.' 

The Albanian Greek Orthodox Churches are under the spiritual 
jurisdiction of the Russian Archbishop of New York, who ordains the 
Albanian Greek Orthodox priests in America. In reply to a letter 
addressed by us to the Archbishop, His Grace was very kind to send 
us a copy of the "By-laws of the Corporation of the Archbishop and 
Consistory of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church" — 1918, 
from which we take the following statement, on page 44: 
"ALBANIAN ORTHODOX CHURCHES AND CLERGY 
"Boston, Mass., St. George Church, 

Rev. F. S. Noli, 53 Clarendon Street. 
Rev. Joseph Kondidi, Ass't of Rector, 

"Philadelphia, Pa., Sts. Peter and Paul Church, 
Rev. George Sakelarius. 

"St. Louis, Mo. 

Rev. N. Czere 820 No. 12th Street. 

"Worcester, Mass., Church of the Assumption of Holy Virgin, 
Rev. Pantelimon Sinica, P. 0. Box 668." 

It appears, then, that the statistics taken independently of the 
United States authorities, based upon the affidavits of the Mayors of 
the various cities of the United States, which have been reported by 

> See Appendix 5. 

H 



the Albanians as centres of Albanian colonies, agree with the numbers 
of Albanians in the United States as stated in the Census of the United 
States, in the reports of the Immigration Bureau and of the Treasury 
Department. It is evident that the Albanian Federation in America 
has deliberately exaggerated the numbers. 

(4) The Albanian Federation "Vatra" challenges us to make 
good our accusation as to "what kind of subsidies" it formerly re- 
ceived from Austria and now receives from Italy. We admit that 
we are not in a position to state the "kind of subsidies," but we refer 
the Peace Conference to the United States Department of Justice for 
information as to the subsidies which the "Vatra" has been receiving 
from the sources we have indicated.' 

{5) We are also challenged to substantiate our accusation that 
the "Vatra" is carrying on a proselytising work to convert the Greek 
Epirotes to Albanian nationalism. Attached we give a few affidavits 
of Greek Epirotes who have been promised lucrative positions in the 
Albanian organization in order to win them to the Albanian side.' 

(6) We deem it unnecessary to comment upon the reported 
"3,000" signatures of Orthodox Albanians which have been attached 
to the Albanian memorandum. The Albanian Federation has con- 
cealed to this day the said signatures. We are accused of not having 
given publicity to the signatures of our last memorandum. The ac- 
cusation is utterly false. In the month of May, we mailed 500 copies 
to the leading newspapers and periodicals in America, England, 
France, Italy, and Greece, to all the Senators and Representatives of 
the United States Congress, to the State Department of the United 
States, and to other prominent American gentlemen. So far as we 
know, we could not give a wider publicity to our memorandum. 

More than three months have elapsed since the Albanian memo- 
randum was sent to the Peace Conference. Nevertheless, the "3,000" 
signatures have not become available to us. The State Department 
at Washington writes that it cannot fmd such signatures in its 
files'; nor has any important newspaper in this country received 
them as it appears from our investigation. Is there any reason for 
this secrecy? We are informed that the signatures consist of Chris- 

1 See Appendix 5, page 2, paragraph 7 and on. 

2 See Appendix 6. 

3 See Appendix 7. 

12 



tian and Christianized Moslem names. Otherwise, the figure "3,000" 
never could have been reached depending only upon the Albanian 
Christians from Korytsa and Kolonia. When the Albanian Federa- 
tion will publish the signatures, we shall be able to prove that in this 
case also, as in the case of the "70,000 Albanians in the United States," 
the Albanians have not had respect for truth. 

(7) We are accused of having procured signatures on false pre- 
tences. As evidence of this, the memorandum of the Albanians 
asserts that many signatories to our last memorandum have pro- 
tested through the official organ of the Albanians, the "Dielli." We 
are constant readers of the "Dielli." We have seen only one protest 
for two Epirotes, residing in Marlboro, Massachusetts. The protest 
is made by the Albanian society of Marlboro. We reproduce the 
letter of the Greek Epirotic Society of Marlboro, Massachusetts, in 
which the Society explains the case of Messrs. Michael Charilaou 
and Basil Manos: 

"Hudson, Mass., 

"August 5, 1919 
"Epirotic Society, 

" 'The Voice of Epirus,' 

"Hudson, Marlboro, Mass. 
"National Pan-Epirotic Union, 
"Boston, Mass. 

"We wish to inform you about the following matter: A few months 
ago, Mr. Dedes from Clinton asked us to get signatures of Korytseans, 
Koloneans and Leskovikians. We had the signatures of all those of 
Greek sentiment, among whom were two, namely, Basil Manos and 
Michael Charilaou whom we did not find home. We knew, however, 
that they were Greeks, and told the Committee on Signatures to add 
their names. Now, that these two gentlemen have seen the names of 
those who have signed our memorandum published daily by the 
"Dielli," and have seen their names also published, either on account 
of fear of the Albanians, or an account of change of sentiment, they 
told us that they will protest through the "Dielli." 

"We intend to publish in the papers and explain that these gentle- 
men will cease to be considered Greeks by our Society. 

"Respectfully, 

(Signed) "Naoum Golias" 



We challenge the Albanian Federation to send to the United States 
Department the issues of the "Dielli" in which the "numerous letters 
of protest" have appeared.' As to the case of Messrs. Charilaou 
and Manos, we believe that the Peace Conference will understand 
how utterly impossible it is to control the membership of our union 
so as to bar out any Albanians who ask to sign our petitions only 
in order to deny afterwards that they have signed them voluntarily, 
and thus place the other signatures under suspicion. It is remark- 
able that out of nearly 2,000 signatures only 2 have been mistaken. 

(8) The Albanian memorandum states that the question of the 
schools of Korytsa has been dealt with by the Albanians in a previous 
memorandum to the Peace Conference. This memorandum also 
has been kept secret. We do not know what are the contents of that 
memorandum. We know, however, that to-day, under French ad- 
ministration, there are 2,400 children attending the Greek Schools, and 
only 200 attending the Albanian school of Korytsa alone. The fol- 
lowing is a cable received on December 5, 1919, from Mr. Adamides, 
deputy of Korytsa, for the Greek Parliament (1915), and delegate 
for the people of Korytsa to the Peace Conference: 
"Korytsa, November 25, 1919 

"Pan-Epirotic Union in America 
"Boston, Mass. 

"The Christian inhabitants of Korytsa are indignant at the news 
that false reports have been circulated under the form of 'corre- 
spondence from Korytsa,' manufactured by certain agents inimical 
to the people of Korytsa, and finding their way into the American 
press. The District of Korytsa is incontestably Greek. The great 
evidence of the Hellenic sentiments of the people of Korytsa is the 
number of the Greek scholars attending the Greek schools. The 
number of the Greek scholars attending the Greek schools is 2,400, 
whereas the number of Albanian scholars is only 200, the latter 
being the children of Albanian officials serving the Albanian Admin- 

1 The Pan-Epirotic Union has on file all the issues of the "Dielli" since last May. We find, 
on investigation, that, with the exception of the two cases mentioned above, the signatories to our 
memorandum of last May reported to have protested against us in letters sent to the Albanian 
Federation are ready to furnish us sworn statements declaring that they have never sent such 
letters of protest to the Albanians, and the letters are false. The number of protests reported 
in the "Dielli" are only 32. Two of them alone are genuine. As soon as the affidavits arrive, 
we shall forward them to the Peace Conference. 



istration, which was established in 1916 for political reasons by the 
French military authorities. The Albanian High School had last 
year 26 students, and this year 13, although it spends large sums of 
money to attract students. 

"When in 1916 the French military authorities established an 
Albanian civil government, the Albanian police and the Albanian 
Courts were prosecuting and condemning the citizens of Korytsa 
for the most insignificant exhibition on the part of these of their 
Hellenic sentiment. The Albanian gendarmarie consists of the lowest 
types, formerly highway robbers and thieves, because no honest citi- 
zen of Korytsa would agree to serve in their ranks. In spite of every 
kind of oppression on the part of the artificial Albanian civil author- 
ities, the citizens of Korytsa persist in their convictions in considering 
themselves Greeks, and are day by day expecting the arrival of the 
Greek troops. The Albanian gendarmarie has become a veritable 
tyrannical iforce. Under its auspices, a black-hand society has been 
organized, which was responsible for the assassination of the super- 
intendent of the Greek schools of Korytsa, late Guini, last March. 
During the first days of last September it was rumored that this 
black-hand society would throw bombs into the Greek schools with 
the purpose of intimidating the parents not to send their children 
to the Greek schools. The French authorities took drastic measures 
and frustrated the Albanian attempt. In retaliation for this action 
of the French authorities, the Albanian black-hand society twice 
attempted to blow up the Headquarters of the French Governor. 
The assassin was seized and sent to Salonica. In spite of all these 
hardships and intimidations, the Greek schools are filled to capacity 
wath scholars of both sexes. 

"Fortunately, the French Military Governor has begun lately to 
take serious measures to insure security of life for all the inhabitants 
of the District of Korytsa. 

"Very soon I shall cable you information about the schools out- 
side of Korytsa where the Greek sentiment is prevalent. I shall also 
enumerate the murders and assassinations which the Albanian gen- 
darmarie has committed against the Hellenic population.^ 

(Signed) "Adamides." 

1 See Appendix 9. 



(9) The accusation that our revolution in 1914 against Albania 
was fictitious, we pass as unworthy of reply. The fact that the 
Great Powers met our representatives at Corfu in 1914, and nego- 
tiated with them the Pact of Corfu, in which Northern Epirus, 
Korytsa included, was recognized as Greek in every respect, proves 
sufficiently the genuineness of our revolution against Albania. 

(10) Finally, the accusation that our Pan-Epirotic Union in 
America is governed by men who are not from Korytsa nor from 
Northern Epirus, "but who are Greeks," is unfair and false. The 
governing body of the Pan-Epirotic Union consists of a President, 
who comes from Northern Epirus (District of Delvinon), a Vice- 
President and a Secretary (from Argyrocastro), and four Trustees 
from other parts of Northern Epirus, such as Premeti and Himarra, 
and three from Greek Epirus. Now it is curious that the Albanian 
memorandum, while claiming that the inhabitants of Greek Epirus 
are Albanians, denominates the members of the governing Council 
of the Pan-Epirotic Union who come from Greek Epirus, "Greeks."^ 

Your Excellency, we have more than once cabled to the Peace 
Conference petitions, imploring that a solution be speedily given to 
our Epirotic problem. 

The State Department in this country is in a position to inform 
the Peace Conference as to our numbers and the desire of us all 
for union with the mother country, Greece. 

The false representations of our enemies, we hope, will not be 
taken seriously by the Supreme Council who are to decide upon 
our future. 

Your Obedient Servants 

The Pan-Epirotic Union in America 
N. J. Cassavetes, Director 

» See Appendix 8. 



APPENDIX I 



Christian Science Monitor, October 23, 1919 

GREEK VIEW OF EPIRUS QUESTION 

Proposal to Include Sanjak of Korytza in New 
Albania Is Condemned as Ethnologically and 
Geographically Unsound. 

New York, New York — All information available 
in reliable Greek quarters goes to show that the real 
Greek view of the northern Epirus question stands 
in as great need of being better understood as does 
the Greek view of the Thracian question. Here, as 
in the Thracian question. Great Britain, France, Italy, 
and Japan are all agreed on a boundary line between 
Albania and Greece in northern Epirus which would 
run roughly from a point on the coast just northwest 
of Dryades to the southern end of Lake Ochida, and 
would include in Greece the sanjak of Korytza. The 
United States delegates at the conference in Paris 
alone stand out for handing over the sanjak of 
Korytza to Albania. 

Influence of American Missionaries 
In opposing this view of the United States dele- 
gates, the Greeks insist that the American delegates 
are again being influenced unduly by the American 
missionaries in the sanjak, wtio, for several years past, 
have been carrying on the only Albanian school there 
is in Korytza, and who quite honestly, but, as the 
Greeks contend, quite mistakenly, have taken up the 
position that the people of Korytza are really Al- 
banians and not Greek Epirotes. These missionaries, 
so the Greeks affirm, insist that the demand for union 
with Greece, which is everywhere to be heard in 
Korytza, is largely attributable to Greek propaganda, 
and that the Korytzan needs to be reclaimed for 
Albania. To this end they have been working for 
some time, and as one of these missionaries repre- 
sented the interests of southern Albania at the Peace 
Conference, the Greeks maintain that the American 
delegates have taken their views from him. 

The Korytzan a Greek Epirote 

This view that the Korytzan is really an Albanian 
and not a Greek Epirote is, the Greeks declare, based 
on a failure to appreciate a very elementary ety- 
mological fact. The great mass of the people of 
northern Epirus are bilingual. They speak an Al- 
banian patois in their homes, but they read and write 
in Greek, and, until the inauguration, some years be- 
fore the war, of a vigorous Albanian propaganda 
subsidized by both Italy and Austria, the northern 
Epirote never thought of himself as anything else 
but Greek. To-day, the Greeks point to the fact that 
after 15 years of strenuous labor the one Albanian 
school in Korytza against the 72 Greek schools rep- 
resents the utmost that the advocates of this theory, 
ignorantly though quite honestly acquiesced in by 
the American missionaries, have to show. 



All this, of course, only applies to the Christian 
population, for the population of the sanjak is about 
equally divided between Orthodox Greek Epirotes 
and Muhammadan Albanians, with a majority in 
favor of the Christian Epirotes. The Greeks claim 
if nationality so equally di- 
is, economic, strategic. 



that with the quest 

vided all other consideratio _, _ _ , 

ultural would give the sanjak to Greece 



and cul 



Christian Science Monitor, November 21, 1919 

CLAIMS OF GREECE AND ALBANIA TO 
CITY OF KORYTZA 

Peace Conference Must Decide Which of the 
Two Countries Shall Own It — Greece Shown 
TO Be the Logical Possessor. 

By Special Correspondent of The Christian Science 
Monitor. 

Athens, Greece — As the Peace Conference has 
yet to determine whether Korytza and the surround- 
ing country shall be owned by Greece or Albania, it 
is a matter of interest to study the relation of this 
city to the surrounding country. Korytza is a city 
of about 10,000 inhabitants, in the vilayet of Janina, 
located in a wide plain watered by the Devol River. 
It was guaranteed to Albania in 1913 after the Bal- 
kan War, but as the bulk of the inhabitants are Greeks, 
the minority being Albanians and Slavs, Greece has 
claimed it on the basis of self-determination, as well 
as for economic and strategic reasons. 



Economic and Strategic Aspects 

In addition to these facts the population of Korytza, 
demanding union with Greece, is larger than that 
wanting union with Albania, and culturally the Greeks 
there are incomparably superior to the Albanians. 
There are, however, two other considerations affect- 
ing Korytza of too much practical importance to be 
disregarded, namely, the economic and the strategic 

The Pindus range, running from Lake Ochrida to 
Thermopyla;, cuts southern (Greek) Epirus completely 
off from southern (Greek) Macedonia. The commer- 
cial relations established from ancient times between 
Greek and Serbian Macedonia and Epirus will be 
completely broken if Korytza is given to Albania. 
The only commercial route between Janina, Fiorina, 
Monastir, and Salonika passes through Argyrokastron 
and Korj-tza. If Korytza is given to Albania, the 
nine-tenths of Epirus which will go to Greece will be 
cut off entirely from all economic intercourse with 
Macedonia. As a result of this, both Epirus and 
Macedonia will deteriorate economically. 



Cut off from Albania 

On the other hand, Albania will not gain econom- 
ically by the acquisition of Korytza. A glance at 
the map will show that the district of Korytza is 
bounded on the east by Greek and Serbian Mace- 
donia ; on the north by the ranges of the Tomaros 
Mountains, more than 7,000 feet high, which render 
communications impossible between Korytza and 
the nearest Albanian towns of Berat and Elbasan. 
On the west, Korytza will be bounded by Greek 
northern Epirus, and on the south by Greek Epirus 
and Greek Macedonia. No direct communication 
between Albania and the district of Korytza can be 
possible for many years to come ; Korytza, then, 
the prosperous district of northern Epirus, will be 
isolated. Its commerce will dwindle away, and the 
city of Korytza will cease to be, what it is to-day, 
the thoroughfare of all the trade between Epirus 
and Macedonia. 

It is, perhaps, in place to state here that northern 
Epirus, including Korytza, is completely cut off from 
Albania by the Pindus on the east, by the Tomaros 
and by the Acroceraunean Mountains on the north. 
The Pindus range reaches 7,500 feet, the Tomaros 
8,000 and upward, and the Acrocerauneans 6,700 
feet. The only pass through which northern Epirus 
communicates with southern Albania is a narrow 
gorge near Tepeleni, wide enough to allow one auto- 
mobile to pass through it at a time. But the Tepeleni 
Pass will go to Greece, as it is reported from Paris, 
and even if Tepeleni were given to Albania, that 
pass is not an adequate means of communication 
between Albania and Korytza. 



Greece at a Disadvantage 

Strategically, the exclusion of Korytza from Greece 
leaves the whole of Greek northern Epirus, and, in 
fact, all of northern Greece in the air by cutting it 
off from communication with Salonika. The great 
trunk road from Santi Quaranta to Korytza, Mon- 
astir, and Salonika will be blocked to the mobiliza- 
tion of Greek troops from southern Macedonia. If 
a strong army is concentrated in Korytza and thrown 
against Epirus, Argyrokastron and Janina will be at 
the mercy of the enemy. Greece will have to dis- 
patch troops to Epirus from Macedonia by a round- 
about sea route from Salonika to the Corinthian 
Isthmus, and thence to Preveza and Janina. On the 
other hand, if Greece concentrates a strong army 
in northern Epirus, Albania cannot hold Korytza. 

In conclusion, then, Albanian Korytza will mean 
for Greece economic deterioration of Greek Epirus 
and Greek Macedonia without any benefit to Al- 
bania's economic condition. Strategically, the loss 
of Korytza will be for Greece a constant danger to 
her northern provinces in case Albania becomes the 
tool of a great power. Or again, the acquisition of 
isolated Korytza by Albania may tempt the Greeks 
to seize upon it without Albania being able to pro- 
tect it. Thus, an Albanian answer to the question of 
Korytza would do Albania no good and Greece much 
harm. There seems, in this case, to be a fortunate 



agreement between concrete, practical interests, and 
abstract, national ideals in a decision favorable to 
Greece. 



Christian Science Monitor, November 25, 1919 

THE GREEK CLAIM TO KORYTZA 
(Editorial) 

Although the claim, put forward by Greece, that, 
in the final settlement of the northern Epirus ques- 
tion, the town and sanjak of Korytza shall be ceded 
to Greece, has support from many sources, perhaps 
the one that makes most immediate appeal is the 
geographical one. The Greek claim to Korytza on 
the basis of race is, of course, quite irrefragable. 
There is no question with those who know anything 
about the Christian Epirote that he is a Greek of 
Greeks ; whilst it is a matter of simple record that 
of the two races inhabiting the sanjak, namely, the 
Orthodox Greeks and the Muhammadan Albanians, 
the Orthodox Greeks are in a decided majority. From 
a cultural point of view, the ethnological question 
being settled in favor of Greece, the claims of the 
Greek are overwhelming. All the culture in the 
sanjak is Greek culture. Of the 73 schools in Kor- 
ytza, no less than 72 are Greek; whilst the one which 
is Albanian owes its existence and maintenance 
mainly to the efforts of American missionaries. 

It is, however, the "geographic claim" which, other 
things being equal, is the most striking. From time 
immemorial, the only road connecting the towns 
and villages of Epirus with the towns and villages 
of Serbian Macedonia, as it is to-day, has run through 
Korytza. Winding in and out amidst the valleys of 
one of the most mountainous countries in Europe, it 
finds its way from the Adriatic at Prevesa to the 
^gean at Salonika. In passing through Korytza, 
which lies at the apex of the great triangle formed 
by the Tomaros and the Pindus mountains, this road 
makes straight for the only gap between the two 
ranges, namely, that lying between Lake Orchida and 
Lake Presba. Korytza has no outlet either to the 
^Egean or to the Adriatic, except along this road. 
With Albania, to which the United States delegates 
to the Peace Conference, alone amongst the represen- 
tatives of the powers, are desirous of uniting the san- 
jak, it has no communication of any value at all, 
from a commercial point of view. The only com- 
munication of any kind is through the Acroceraunear 
and Tomaros mountains, by a narrow road running 
along the banks of the Voiussa River as it forces its 
way through the pass of Tepeleni. No trade of any 
importance has ever been carried on over this road, 
and the people of Korytza have never been accus- 
tomed to have much dealing with the people at the 
other side of the great barrier. 

An Albanian Korytza, therefore, must mean the 
economic deterioration of northern Epirus, artificially 
cut off from its natural trade outlet eastward. Whilst 
for Korytsa itself, practically isolated at it would be, 
it could only mean deterioration also. 

The whole proposal to hand over Korytza to Al- 
bania is based on a curious misconception, for which 



the American missionaries in the sanjak are largely 
responsible. The contention is that the northern 
Epirote, inasmuch as he speaks Albanian, is really an 
Albanian and not a Greek. Now the great mass of 
the people in northern Epirus are bilingual. They 
speak an Albanian patois in their homes, but they 
read and write in Greek, and until the inauguration, 
some years ago, of a carefully organized propaganda, 
subsidized by both Austria and Italy, the northern 
Epirote never thought of himself as anything else 
but Greek. Such, at any rate, is the Greek claim, 
and, whatever the rights of the matter may be, the 
72 Greek schools in Korytza to the one Albanian is 
alone significant evidence in support of it. 



The Springfield Union, October 30, 1919 

GREECE AND KORYTSA 

Her Cl.^ims in Northern Epirus Intell:gently 
Set Forth 

To the Editor of the Union: 

Sir — The average American citizen knows some- 
thing about the claims of Greece to Thrace. It is 
quite well known here that of all the delegates to the 
Peace Conference only our own have opposed the 
desire of the Greek nation to annex the province of 
Thrace, Constantinople not included. Very few of 
our fellow citizens know, however, that our Ameri- 
can commission has opposed the claims of Greece to 
certain parts of northern Epirus. 

Northern Epirus has a population of nearly 200,000 
people; 120,000 Christian Greeks, and 80,000 Alba- 
nians, mostly Mohammedans. It is reported that 
France, England, and Italy have recognized the right 
of Greece over the entire province, and that the 
American commission insists upon cutting off for 
Albania a very important district, that of Korytsa. 
This district has nearly 93.000 people, of whom 
47,000 are Greeks and 45,000 Albanians. 

Greece lays claim to this district for the following 
reasons : 

1. The Greek element there is at least equal to 
the Albanian. 

2. The Greek element is cultured and civilized ; 
the Albanian, with a few exceptions, illiterate, and, 
like all Mohammedan peoples, backward and cruel. 
The Greeks of Korytsa maintain 68 Greek schools, 
attended by 4,407 scholars. The Albanians in Korytsa 
receive instruction in only one school, sustained by 
the American Missionary Board, and subsidized 
largely by Mr. Crane, of Chicago. The attendance of 
this school has varied from 60 to 200 scholars of 
both sexes. The commerce, the industries, and all 
the charitable institutions of the district are Greek. 

3. The district of Kory'^a passes the trunk-road 
running from Jannina tr Monastir. It is the only 
means of communica.ion between northwestern 
Greece and southwest jrn Greek Macedonia. If the 
district of Korytsa 's given to Albania, both Greek 
Epirus and Greek and Serbian Macedonia will be 
ruined economica'ly. Communication between Jan- 



nina — Santi Quaranta and Salonica will have to be 
effected by a long sea route from Salonica around the 
Isthmus of Corinth and Preveza, or around the Strait 
of Corfu to Santi Quaranta. The Pindus Range, which 
runs in a vertical direction from Lake Ochrida to 
the plains of Thermopylae, completely cuts off Epirus 
from Macedonia, except in the district of Korytsa, 
where the military road runs to Monastir through 
the Devoli passes. 

On the other hand, never have there existed any 
commercial relations between Korytsa and Albania. 
This was utterly impossible in view of the fact that 
the Akrokerannian Mountains. 7,500 feet high, and 
the Tomoros Range, more than 8,000 feet high, com- 
pletely shut off all northern Epirus from Albania. 
There is only one narrow pass near Tepeleni which 
admits from time to time caravans of donkeys. Its 
width is hardly sufficient to admit one automobile 
at a time. And this pass is to fall within Greek 
territory. Thus, if Korytsa is finally given to Albania, 
it will be completely cut off from Albania by the high 
and impassable mountains. Under such conditions, 
Korytsa. whose superiority has depended upon its 
commerce with Greek Epirus and Greek Macedonia, 
will dwindle away economically. 

4. Finally, the cession of Korytsa to Albania will 
place Northern Greece strategically at the mercy 
of any foreign army which may be suddenly con- 
centrated at Korytsa. With the Jannina road cut 
at Korytsa, Greece cannot send in time troops from 
Macedonia to defend Epirus and Thessaly against 
a sudden invasion with a base in the district of 
Korytsa. 

Summing up, on the principle! of nationality, 
Greece has a valid right to Korytsa. Cession of 
Korytsa to Albania will do no appreciable good to 
Albania, but enormous harm to Greece, both eco- 
nomically and strategically. 

Will our delegates expose Greece, our friend and 
ally, to such perils ? We cannot believe it. 

N. J. Cassavetes, 
Director of the Pan-Epirotic Union of America 

Boston, October 29, 1919. 



Atlantis, New York City, June 30, 1919 

NORTHERN EPIRUS AT THE PEACE 

CONFERENCE 

(Editorial) 



Northern Epirus is a small province with a popu- 
lation of nearly 200,000. It consists of the following 
nine districts : Chimarra, Delvinon, Tepeleni, Argy- 
rocastron. Leskoviki. Premeti, Colonia, Korytsa. and 
Starovon (only one-half). 

Northern Epirus extends, on the Adriatic from the 
Bay of Phtelia, opposite the Greek island of Corfu, 
to the Bay of Grammala, or an extent of coast line 
of nearly 90 kilometres. 

To the north, the province is bounded by the 
Acroceraunean mountains, which run from Chimarra 



on the Adriatic to only five kilometres to the south 
of the Lake Ochrida, or an extent of 160 kilometres. 
The Acrocerauneans completely separate Northern 
Epirus from Albania to the north, these mountains 
being in no place less than 1,050 feet high. There is 
one small passageway in the District of Tepeleni, 
in the valley of the River Drinos, which is so narrow 
that hardly more than two automobiles can cross at 
the same time. 

To the east lies Greek Macedonia, and to the 
south. Southern Epirus. Access to Northern Epirus 
can be secured only through Greek Macedonia 
through the port of Santi Quaranta, and through 
Southern Epirus. There are no natural barriers 
between Northern Epirus and Macedonia and South- 
ern Epirus, connecting Jannina, in Southern Epirus, 
Argyrocastron, Korytsa, Monastir, and Salonika, or 
Monastir, Korytsa, Argyrocastron, Santi Quaranta, 
or Preveza, Yannina, Santi Quaranta. 

Under the Turkish regime. Southern Epirus and 
the Chimarra, Delvinon, Argyrocastron, Tepeleni, 
Leskoviki, Premeti districts formed one province, the 
Vilayet of Yannina. Korytsa, Colonia, and Starovon 
formed part of the Vilayet of Monastir in Macedonia. 
This political distribution of the districts of Epirus 
into the two vilayets of Yannina and Monastir cor- 
responded with the economic needs of the districts. 
Korytsa, Starovon, and Colonia were indissolubly 
bound to the Vilayet of Monastir for their economic 
development. 

Religion and Language 

The 200,000 inhabitants of Northern Epirus are, 
generally speaking, of two religions. Nearly 120,000 
are Christians, and the rest, or 80,000, are Moham- 
medans. The Mohammedans are Albanians imported 
into Northern Epirus in 1806-1822 by Ali Pasha, who 
strove by all means to exterminate the Christians 
and alter the Greek character of the province. 

The languages spoken are Greek, an Albanian 
patois, and Vlach. Of the total 120,000 Christian 
population, nearly 50,000 speak only Greek, the 60,000 
speak an Albanian patois at home, but speak very 
well Greek, read, write, and carry on business only 
in Greek; and some 10,000 speak Kutso-Vlach at 
home, but read and write only Greek, and speak 
Greek perfectly. 

The Mohammedans employ in the great bulk only 
Albanian, although there are those among them who 
read and write only Greek. 

Education 

The schools are all Greek. Thus, in Chimarra there 
are three Greek schools with 14 teachers and 587 
Greek scholars. Delvinon has 24 Greek schools, 39 
teachers, and 1,189 Greek scholars. Argyrocastro 
has 86 Greek schools with 95 teachers and 4,365 Greek 
scholars, 71 Greek priests, 94 Greek churches, and 6 
Greek monasteries. Tepeleni has 18 Greek schools, 
22 teachers, and 589 Greek scholars, Premeti has 40 
Greek schools, 45 Greek teachers, and 1,189 Greek 
scholars. Leskoviki has 34 Greek schools with 40 
Greek teachers and 1,189 Greek scholars. Colonia, 



Korytsa, and part of Starovon have 12,500 Greek 
scholars. The only Albanian school existing in 
Northern Epirus is in the city of Korytsa, with from 
60-100 Albanian scholars drafted from the entire 
district of Korytsa. 

The city of Korytsa alone maintains one Greek 
college for boys with 100 students; one Greek Girls' 
High School with 750 girls; two Greek kindergartens 
with 700 children. In all, in a city of 25,000 there 
are 2,200 boys and girls attending Greek schools, 
where instruction in Greek is given by 10 native 
Greek professors, 15 male and 14 female teachers, 
and 4 kindergarten instructors. The total appropria- 
tion made by the city for this instruction was, in 1914, 
70,000 francs. The entire school attendance in Greek 
schools for the district of Korytsa, was, in 1914, 
12,500. 

Commerce 

The commerce of Northern Epirus is entirely in 
the hands of the Greek population. The merchants 
of Chimarra, Tepeleni, Argyrocastron, Moschopolis, 
and Korytsa do business with Yannina in Southern 
Epirus, and with Castoria, in Greek Macedonia, or 
with Monastir in Serbian Macedonia and through 
Monastir with Salonica. The good public roads con- 
necting Prevera, Yannina, Santi Quaranta, Argy- 
rocastron, Korytsa, Monastir, Salonica, make North- 
ern Epirus, from the commercial point of view, in- 
dissolubly bound on the one hand to Greek Southern 
Epirus, and on the other to Serbian and Greek 
Macedonia. 

There is only one possible commercial route to 
Albania, that is the narrow pass in the district of 
Tepeleni in the course of the River Drinos. This 
route has been opened by the Italians since 1915. 
Previous to this year there was no direct commercial 
intercourse between the cities of Northern Epirus 
and Southern Albania. This route connects Santi 
Quaranta. Argyrocastron and Valona, Korytsa which 
has been occupied by the French is still isolated 
from Southern Albania. 

Owing to lack of means of communication, if the 
districts of Chimarra, Tepeleni, and Argyrocastron 
are given to Greece, as it is already announced, and 
Korytsa is allotted to the prospective state of Al- 
bania, the entire district of Korytsa will dwindle away 
into insignificance. For, this fertile district bounded 
on the north by the high and impassable mountains 
will not have connections with Berat and Elbassan to 
the north. On the east there will be Serbia and 
Greece, on the south Greece, and on the west again 
Greece. If Korytsa is given to Albania, not it alone, 
but also the entire province of Northern Epirus will 
suffer economic deterioration. For, the entire Prov- 
ince of Epirus, Northern and Southern, was depend- 
ing on Macedonia and Salonica for a very great por- 
tion of its business. The connection of Epirus with 
Macedonia is effected only through the Yannina- 
Argyrocastro-Korytsa road. By giving Korytsa to 
Albania, and Argyrocastron to Greece, the natural 
links between Epirus and Macedonia are broken, and 
Epirus and Macedonia will suffer economically. Not 
only culturally and ethnologically, but also economic- 
ally Korytsa must remain either a part of Macedonia, 
or a part of the entire and undivided Epirus. 



Future Disposition of Northern Epirus 

Mr. Venizelos has asked that the entire province 
of Northern Epirus be given to Greece. This prov- 
ince, in 1913, on the insistence of Austria and Italy, 
was annexed to Albania. The Greek troops which 
had occupied it in 1913 were ordered to evacuate it. 
Upon the evacuation of the province by the Greek 
troops, the Albanians entered the city of Korytsa. A 
struggle ensued. The native citizens refused to sub- 
mit to the motley forces of Prince William of Wied. 
More than 200 citizens of Kor>'tsa were killed in the 
fighting in the streets. The Epirotes of the district 
of Premeti rose and defended their district against 
the invasion of the Moslem tribes from Central Al- 
bania. Then followed the Chimarriotes. and in less 
than one month the entire province of Northern Epi- 
rus was aflame with the spirit of revolt against the 
Albanians. After nearly nine months of fighting the 
Albanians were forced to retire, and the Great Powers 
through the protocol of Corfu, in 1914, recognized 
the complete autonomy of the Northern Epirotes. 

In the fall of 1914, after the beginning of the great 
war, the Powers asked Mr. Venizelos to reoccupy the 
province. The inhabitants gladly hauled down their 
autonomy's flag and hoisted the Greek flag, declaring 
their union with Greece. 

In 1915, Italy occupied the province and drove 
away the Greeks ; abolished the Greek language, 
closed the Greek schools; drove out the Greeks 



priests and proclaimed Northern Epirus a part of 
Albania and Albania under Italian protection. 

The inhabitants of Northern Epirus are divided in 
their aspirations. One hundred and twenty thousand 
of them, the Christians, the merchants, the cultured 
class, declare that they will not submit to Albania 
and demand union with Greece. The minority of 
nearly 80,000 .Mbanians (mostly Moslems) desires 
union with the Mohammedan state of Albania. 

The news from Paris is that the districts of Chi- 
marra, Delvinon, Premeti, Tepeleni, Leskoviki, and 
Argyrocastron have been recognized as Greek. The 
American delegates expressed themselves in favor 
of Korytsa being included in Albania, claiming that 
Korytsa is the centre of Albanian culture. Now Ko- 
rytsa, as stated before in this study, has only one 
Albanian school run by the American missionary, 
Reverend Kennedy. Its attendance is from 60 to 100, 
whereas the native Greeks of Korytsa maintain their 
own schools with an attendance of 2.200 Greek pupils 
for the city, and 12,500 Greek pupils for the entire 
district. If it is claimed that Korytsa is a centre of 
Albanian culture because of the solitary Albanian 
school there, how can our delegates ignore the fact 
that Korytsa has been for nearly two centuries the 
greatest centre of Greek culture? 

It is to be hoped that the delegates will accede to 
the just claim of Mr. Venizelos and give the entire 
Northern Epirus to Greece. 



APPENDIX II 



Contemporary Review, No. 641, May, 1919 

NORTHERN EPIRUS: AN IMPORTUNATE 
QUESTION 

There are so many interesting new questions just 
now that people have got no time to spare for the 
old ones, which are dull because they are old. But 
many of the dull old questions still are unsettled, and 
ready to come and put themselves to us in the most 
embarrassing way if they consider themselves neg- 
lected for younger and fresher rivals. The ques- 
tion of Northern Epirus is one of them. It is an 
old question enough, but not really dull. Age can- 
not wither it, nor custom stale. Until it succeeds in 
getting itself answered it will go on putting itself to 
Europe in its youthful way about once a year, in 
the shape of a local war or a revolution. It would 
probably save time and trouble in the long run if 
the Conference could spare a minute to provide it 
at last with the answer for which it has so long been 
asking. It must, of course, be the right answer. 
Often and often have the bothered Powers tried to 
pacify the importunate question with the wrong an- 
swer, and the question has always refused to be 
pacified, and organised another "outbreak." 

What is the question ? It is the question of the 
political destiny of a strip of mountain, vale, and 
hill about forty miles wide, that forms the northern 
part of the province of Epirus opposite Corfu. There 
are two important towns in it, Argj-rocastro and Cho- 



ritsa, and a port, Santa Quaranta, and it has a popu- 
lation, mostly village-dwelling, of about 230,000. 
Turkey had it before the first Balkan war, and now 
Greece and Albania both claim it and that is the 
question. It is not really dull, because 230,000 hardy 
warfaring peasants are not likely to allow a question 
to be dull which, they believe, deeply affects their 
spiritual and material welfare. 

In an interesting article about "Albania at the 
Peace Conference," in the April number of this Re- 
view, Mr. H. Charles Woods gives the question a 
simple and a summary answer. "Greece," he writes, 
"animated largely by nationalistic motives, but also 
partly by a desire to secure the port of Santa Quar- 
anta and its hinterland, ... is endeavoring to extend 
her northwestern frontier at the expense of Al- 
bania." There, certainly, is the matter in a nutshell. 
At least, there certainly is a nutshell, and there is 
something inside it, but there may be a doubt re- 
maining whether what is inside it is the matter in 
question. Are we not all vociferously agreed now- 
adays that the political destiny of a country should 
be decided, not by the wishes of neighbouring States, 
but by those of its inhabitants? Shall we not be more 
up to date, then, if we say that the answer to the 
question of Northern Epirus is not to be found by 
reference to the ambitions, legitimate or illegitimate, 
of Greece or of Albania, but by reference to one thing 
only, the wishes of the Northern Epirotes? If we do 
say so, we shall not be able to find so simple or so 



summary an answer as that of Mr. Woods, because 
the population of Northern Epirus is a mixed and 
not a simple population ; but we may have a better 
chance of finding the right answer. 

What are the wishes of the Northern Epirotes? 
They have never been expressed directly by a 
plebiscite, and perhaps they never can be. To get 
a fair plebiscite there it would be necessary to shut 
every inhabitant up in a separate room under an 
adequate armed guard while he cast his vote. Evi- 
dence about their wishes must be sought indirectly, 
in their racial, linguistic, and religious characteris- 
tics, and in their recent history. 

The inhabitants are divided into two camps, the 
Mohammedan Albanian Epirotes and the Orthodox 
Greek Epirotes. Between the two, competent ob- 
servers are, I think, agreed that there is no clear 
distinction of race. Amongst the Mohammedans 
there may be more (Albanian) Tosc blood, amongst 
the Christians more pure blood of the indigenous 
Epirote race, which, it may be said, it is now very 
difficult to distinguish from the Greek race. But 
on the whole the inhabitants are all much alike phys- 
ically, and their divisions are not due to differences 
of descent. Language affords no clearer dividing 
line. The Christians all speak Greek, and nearly 
all the Mohammedans speak Albanian ; but most of 
the Christians speak Albanian too, and many of the 
Mohammedans speak Greek. Wherever the two 
camps come into close contact, the population is, 
in fact, bilingual ; and an observer of Albanian sym- 
pathies who relied solely on language as a guide 
might pass through the countryside and find noth- 
ing but Albanians, where an observer of Greek sym- 
pathies, proceeding in the same manner, might find 
nothing but Greeks. It is not race or language that 
separates the camps, but religion. The most im- 
portant figures then are these, that of the 230,000 
inhabitants, 120,000 are Orthodox and 110,000 are 
Mohammedans. 

The preponderance of the Orthodox is not very 
great in numbers, but it is very great indeed in other 
and even more important matters, in culture and civ- 
ilisation, in energy, in progressiveness, and in a con- 
scious spirit of unity and nationality. Whenever the 
country has been left free for a time to follow its 
own devices, this moral preponderance of the Ortho- 
dox element has always asserted itself in an imme- 
diate and determined movement towards union with 
Greece. 



•Article 6. — • Italy will receive in absolute proprietor- 
ship Valona, the Island of Saseno, and sufficient territory 
to ensure the military safety of the possession thereof. 
It is proposed, for instance, that this territory shall be 
that extending as far as the river Vojuza to the north and 
east, and to the frontier of the Chimarra district to the 

Article 7. — After having received Trentino and Istria, 
under Article 4, Dalmatia and the Adriatic islands under 
Article 5, and the Bay of Valona under Article 6, Italy wi!l 



oppo 



the 



for. 



of 



small neutral State in Albania, to the possible wish of 
France, Great Britain, and Russia to divide between 
Montenegro. Serbia, and Greece the frontier districts in 
the north and south of Albania. The southern coast of Al- 
bania, from the frontier of the Italian territory of Valona 
to Cape Stylos, will be neutralised. 



Nothing has so much confounded counsel on the 
Balkan scene as the digging up of ancient and irrele- 
vant history. Pyrrhus, Basil Bulgaroktonos, and 
Skanderbeg were interesting people, but their interest 
is for the historian, and not for the peasant who 
drives his plough to-day under the hillside of Ar- 
gyrocastro. On the other hand, in our search for a 
guide as to that peasant's political sympathies, we 
cannot do better than consult the record of his po- 
litical actions in the immediate past. They are not 
at all irrelevant, because they are the only means 
that he has had of making his opinion known. The 
story of his recent doings is familiar. When the 
Powers made an Albanian State in 1913, after the 
second Balkan war, they sent a Commission to fix its 
southern frontier. The Commission decided to take 
language as a guide — in a bilingual country ! It 
would have been hardly less sensible to have said 
that they would divide the inhabitants into those who 
had a left leg and those who had a right leg. By 
firmly closing their eyes to all right legs, in other 
words, by ignoring the Greek speech of all bilinguals, 
the Commission succeeded in arriving at the conclu- 
sion that the country should belong to Albania. The 
Greek troops thereupon withdrew, and the inhabi- 
tants immediately rose, and declared Northern Epirus 
an autonomous State in sympathy with Greece. After 
some months of fighting with the Albanian forces, 
they received, in 1914, from a Congress at Corfu, 
full recognition of their national autonomy, in formal 
allegiance to Albania. When the great war began, 
and Albania resumed its accustomed anarchy. North- 
ern Epirus obtained the full achievement of its de- 
sires in the form of a mandate for its occupation and 
administration by the Greek Government. An un- 
fettered election was held, and representatives were 
returned to the Greek Parliament. But this bright 
chapter was soon to close. Real politik brought in the 
Italians for a military occupation, and the people 
were subjected to a new foreign domination. On 
this last and still unfinished chapter of their history, 
however, we need not dwell. In view of Articles 6 
and 7 of the secret Treaty of London,* nobody, I 
imagine, is prepared to contend that Italy has any per- 
manent business south of Valona. What business she 
has at Valona, indeed, is a thing that we have never 
had explained to us, according, at least, to the new 
gospel of self-determination. But perhaps it is hardly 
a question for us to ask. Italy can give such a baffling 
answer by a silent glance westward to the Straits. 

On the only recent occasion, then, on which North- 
ern Epirus has been left free to follow its own de- 
vices, it has immediately and with a spontaneous 
and irresistible motion swung right over towards 
Greece. The autonomous Government of 1913-14, 
which gave the impulse for the swing, was demo- 
cratic, efficient, well organised, and progressive. It 
was created and controlled by native Epirote patriots 
under the leadership of M. Christaki Zographos, 
himself of Droviani. Its volunteer army was well 
disciplined and led, and had little difficulty in repel- 
ling the attacks of the Albanian bands from the 
north. During a visit to the country in June, 1914, 
I saw well-managed hospitals and refugee camps, 
communications and transport well maintained, and 



I received a strong impression of a people rejoicing 
in new-found liberty, and in the dawning hope of 
advance in civilisation and prosperity, given to them 
after so many centuries of stagnation and oppression 
by the military cordon which was protecting them 
from their age-long enemies in wild Albania. Safe 
at last from the north, all eyes were turned south 
towards Greece in hope and confidence. There can 
be no doubt that they are doing so still, behind the 
veil which the Italian occupation has drawn over the 
country. If we are to consider only the wishes of 
the people, it is very clear from their recent history 
that we must be prepared to give their question a 
Greek answer. Language, race, faith, culture, and 
tradition all draw them more strongly in that direc- 
tion than in any other. Practical considerations 
draw them thither far more strongly still. From 
the point of view of material advantages, which 
State would it be better for them to join : civilised 
and orderly Greece, a land of settled government, 
or uncivilised and disorderly Albania, an embryo 
in the family of nations, whose separate existence, 
even, is still for the future to decide? The North- 
ern Epirotes have made up their minds very defi- 
nitely about their answer to that question. "We 
will not be shut up in a house with savages !" they 
used to say. 

The question of Northern Epirus has been left so 
long unsettled that it has grown up and had a family 
of little questions. The eldest of them is the ques- 
tion of Chimarra, a true chip of the old block. The 
village and district of that name lie on the south- 
western slope of the Chika (Akrokeraunian) moun- 
tains, the range which runs S.E. and N.W. to the 
south of Valona, and sticks out into the Adriatic as 
the promontory of Glossa. There are about eighteen 
small villages or settlements in the district, and 
10,000 inhabitants. Protected by the mountains on 
one side and by the sea upon the other, the Chimar- 
riotes succeeded all through the long centuries of 
the Turkish night in maintaining special pri\-ileges, 
which amounted to partial independence. They were 
governed by their own chief, the Archigos ; they were 
exempt from taxation and military service ; and an 
annual tribute was their only concession to the nom- 
inal sovereignty of the Sultan. The Chimarriotes 
were the Suliotes of the North, less fortunate, but 
more splendid, in their greater isolation and obscur- 
ity. No Byron ever came to celebrate their long and 
glorious struggle for freedom. The secret of their 
indomitable courage and pertinacity was, and still is, 
a burning spirit of loyalty to their Greek nationality. 
Perhaps they are the descendants of some country- 
men and contemporaries of Ulysses that came to 
these sea-board villages in ships, and drove the Al- 
banian natives back across the mountain passes 
above. Knowing how ardently they love Greece 
and Greek culture, and with what faithful devotion, 
century after century, as long as history can remem- 
ber, they have longed for union with Greece, one 
cannot but believe that the blood running in their 
veins is Greek blood of some pure and ancient strain. 
When the opportunity of Northern Epirus came in 
1913, they were the first to seize it. Led by their 
Archigos, an office now hereditary in the house of 



Spiromilios, they rose, proclaimed the autonomy of 
Chimarra in alliance with M. Zographos' Government 
at Argyrocastro, and fortified their passes against 
their hereditary enemies, the Albanians. During the 
struggle that followed they, in their mountains, were 
the pivot on which the left wing of the Epirote line 
rested. Their privileges were confirmed by the pact 
of Corfu, and they shared with their Epirote fellow- 
countrymen the joys and sorrows of the subsequent 
occupations by the forces of Greece and Italy. Like 
their fellow-countrymen, they have now disappeared 
behind the Italian veil. Many of the kindly and 
spirited men with whom I sat in 1914 under their fig 
trees on the mountainside are now exiles on the 
barren Italian island of Favignana. Some have died 
there. It is all rather hard to understand, when their 
one desire was to settle down in peace and quiet 
under Greece. 

"But things like this you know must be 
After a famous victory." 

One thing, however, is easy to understand, for 
anybody who knows the Chimarriotes, who has 
watched with them on their passes, and listened over 
the camp fire to tales of old Albanian wars, who has 
been to their schools and heard the children singing 
their Greek songs with a note of passionate longing 
in their voices that would have moved a stone — 
that it would be utterly iniquitous, and not less in- 
iquitous than foolish, to crush the national aspira- 
tions of the Chimarriotes, and to force them under 
the rule of a people that they loathe and despise. 

Another little question, the offspring of the ques- 
tion of Northern Epirus, is the question of Choritsa, 
in the northeast. The population of 70,000 in the 
city and district of that name is about equally di- 
vided between Orthodox and Mohammedans. The 
Albanian language is spoken generally, but there is a 
strong Hellenic spirit, especially in the city. Bangas, 
one of the most munificent benefactors of the Hel- 
lenic revival, came from Choritsa ; and the citizens 
support at ordinary times 44 Greek schools, with 
about 3,500 scholars. During the war the district 
has been occupied by French forces from Monastir. 
When Greece was in disgrace because of the per- 
formances of the traitor Constantine, our French 
Allies, with that nawet6 which they sometimes dis- 
play in their dealings with alien peoples, established 
a "Republic of Choritsa" under Albanian leaders an- 
tagonistic to the Greeks. The result was unfortunate. 
The Albanian leaders were found to be Austrian 
spies, and were shot. 

On the principles of self-determination, Choritsa 
is a hard marginal case. With the population so 
evenly divided between Orthodox and Mohammedans, 
it would be difficult to arrive at a just decision by 
counting heads. If, however, we are to consider, 
not only the number of heads, but what is inside 
them, the case for union with Greece becomes clearer. 
Here, as elsewhere in Northern Epirus, the progres- 
sive and civilising elements are those that desire a 
Greek future, and there can be little doubt that the 
town will be better off as part of an ordered and 
established State than as part of one that is likely 
for many years to come to be unsettled and turbulent. 



There is, however, another consideration affecting 
Choritsa which — although we may admit that it has 
no relation to the principles of self-determination — 
is nevertheless of too much practical importance to 
Epirus as a whole to be entirely disregarded by even 
the most uncompromising follower of President Wil- 
son. The Pindus range cuts Southern (Greek) Epirus 
completely off from Southern (Greek) Macedonia. 
It is not until one has travelled as far north as Cho- 
ritsa that one finds a way through by the passes of 
the Devoli. To include Choritsa in Albania would 
be to cut off Northeastern Greece from all direct 
communication with Northwestern Greece. A trav- 
eller from Janina to Fiorina, for instance, would then 
have to go round by sea, unless he were prepared to 
ride over the passes of Metsovo, and I can answer 
for it that that is not a route that any one would 
care to follow if he could go any other way. There 
is no road, the wolves are unfriendly, and the hotels 
are not good. Inhabitants of a level land like ours 
can hardly realize how vitally such a matter as this 
may affect the inhabitants of a mountainous land. 
For them, access to a pass may make all the differ- 
ence between economic progress and decay. The con- 
sideration must be faced that to cut Greece off from 
the Choritsa gap is to inflict a grave material injury 
upon the whole of her northern territories. That 
should not, no doubt, be allowed to weigh in the bal- 
ance were the national sympathies of Choritsa quite 
clear. But since consideration of her sympathies 
leaves the balance trembling, perhaps the practical 
consideration may not unreasonably be thrown in to 
tip the scale. 

To give the Greek answer to the question of 
Northern Epirus does not imply any hostility on the 
part of the giver towards the Albanians. On the 
contrary, it would surely be far better for Albania 



as well as for everybody else that Northern Epirus 
should be left outside her future borders. She has 
troubles enough before her, and the worst of her 
troubles will be her lack of homogeneity. The future 
has yet to show what form of government can be 
devised to keep the internal peace between the moun- 
tain clans, between Catholic and Mohammedan Ghegs, 
and Mohammedan and Orthodox Toscs, and the ex- 
ternal peace between Albanians, Serbs, and Greeks. 
Whatever the Government may be, it will have no 
bed of roses. Surely they are not very prudent 
friends of Albania who would have her add to her 
many troubles an alien population of at least 120,000 
souls, all inspired with an ardent nationalism that 
for centuries has been in direct and bitter opposition 
to her own, all seeking the first opportunity of break- 
ing free from her, and bent on giving her all the 
trouble that they can in the meanwhile. The equi- 
librium would be hopelessly unstable. There are in 
any case 45,000 Greeks in admittedly Albanian dis- 
tricts north of Northern Epirus, and that should be 
enough for Albania to go on with. She will have 
enough ready-made domestic troubles without adding 
to them the troubles incidental to an imperialist 
policy. 

The Northern Epirotes, it would seem, have given 
a very clear Greek answer to their question in the 
revolution of 1914; and it is the answer that one 
would expect from their interests, characteristics and 
traditions. An Albanian answer would do Albania 
no good and Greece much harm. There seems in this 
matter to be a fortunate agreement between concrete 
practical interests and abstract national ideals. Might 
not the Conference, then, pluck up heart and set the 
uneasy question of Northern Epirus at rest with the 
answer that it has so long desired? 

E. Hilton Young. 



APPENDIX III 



Chicago Daily Neivs, July 21, 1919 



SCHOOLS IN KORYTSA 

We read a letter by an Albanian gentleman in 
the Daily News of JiJy 11, in which he takes ex- 
ception to an assertion about the schools of Korytsa. 
He admits that there are 120 Greek schools in the 
district of Korytsa ; he, moreover, does not deny that 
the teaching is exclusively Greek, and that there is 
an Albanian school with an attendance of from 60 
to 200 pupils, where the teaching is exclusively Al- 
banian, and where Greek is not permitted. But he 
claims that the pupils are Albanians. 

Why should Albanians support 120 Greek schools 
and only one Albanian school? Why should more 
than 10,000 pupils of Korytsa attend the Greek 
schools, and less than 200 the Albanian school? 
Would Americans support 120 Japanese schools and 
only one American if they were really Americans ? 

But the Albanian gentleman claims that Albanian 
schools were not permitted by Sultan Abdul Hamid. 
In the first place, the one Albanian school in 
Korytsa dates from the days of Abdul Hamid ; and, 



in the second place, Abdul Hamid has been out 
of power eleven years. Korytsa has been under 
French control since 1915. At that date the French 
authorities established the so-called republic of Ko- 
rytsa. The inhabitants were given freedom to estab- 
lish their own national church and schools. If the 
inhabitants of Korytsa had once been forced to have 
Greek schools, why, since 1915, have they not 
changed the Greek schools into Albanian schools? 

The attendance in the Greek schools of the city 
of Korytsa, according to information sent by the 
American Red Cross committee, is 2,300 pupils; the 
attendance in the Albanian school is only 200 pupils. 

I am a Korytsean and I know that our children in 
the Greek schools are taught to hate the Moslem 
Albanians as tyrants. The pupils in the Albanian 
schools are taught to hate the Greeks. There is no 
love lost between the Greeks and Albanians. Why, 
then, should Albanian parents prefer the language, 
the history, and the culture of their enemies rather 
than that of their own? 

The other day an American general, Bellis, visited 
Korytsa. The citizens went out to meet him with 



Greek and American flags, and shouted "Long live 

America ! Long live our union with our mother 
country, Greece !" 

If the Korytseans want union with Greece, what 
other can they be except Greeks ? 

Gregory Petrou, 

Boston, Mass. Native of Korytsa. 



Jamestoivn (N. Y.) Mornivg Post, June 19. 1919 



Goritza, Albania, June 18.— (By Mail)— An Am- 
erican commission has been here to determine what 
the opinion of the population of Albania is with re- 
gard to their national future. The commission, 
which arrived soon after an American Red Cross 
unit of thirty people under Major Glenfred C. Bellis, 
was received with great enthusiasm. 

Two thousand pupils of the Greek schools waved 
Greek and American flags and cheered as the dele- 
gates entered Goritza. Albanian gendarmes attempted 
to prevent the pupils from manifesting their senti- 
ments, but were driven off by the French authorities. 



Brooklyn (N. Y.) Eagle, July 10, 1919 

NORTHERN EPIRUS 

Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle: 

On the occasion of the discussion at Paris on the 
Province of Northern Epirus, may we state the case 
in brief for the benefit of those who desire to know 
the facts about it? Northern Epirus has a population 
of 200,000, of whom 120,000 are Christians and 80.000 
Moslems. The Christians, with a very negligible 
number among them, demand union with Greece. 
The Moslems prefer a Moslem Albanian State. The 
culture of the province is Greek. There are, in all, 
in Northern Epirus, 360 Greek schools, and only one 
Albanian school with an attendance of 22,595 for the 
Greek schools, and only 200 for the Albanian school. 
This Albanian school is in the city of Korytsa. For 
this reason, the Albanians claim that Korytsa is the 
center of Albanian culture. The city of Korytsa 
maintains one Greek college for boys, with 100 stu- 
dents ; one Greek girls high school, with 750 girls ; 
two kindergartens, with an attendance of 700 chil- 
dren of both sexes. In all, the Greek schools of 
Korytsa give instruction to 2,200 boys and girls. The 
Greek schools for the district of Korytsa are 120, 
with 180 teachers and 10,000 pupils. For the same 
district, the Albanians have one school with 200 
pupils. The fact that the boys and girls are sent by 
their parents to learn Greek rather than Albanian, 
and to study Greek history rather than Albanian, is 
proof of the will of the Christian Epirotes to be 
Greeks and to be united with Greece. 

Peter Pandias. 



Springfield Sunday Republican, July 27, 1919 
SAYS ITALY OPPRESSES GREEKS IN EPIRUS 
President of Greek Orthodox Community Takes 

Exception to Charles Upson Cl.^rk's Letter on 

Albanian Conditions 
To the Editor of The Republican: 

May we make a few remarks upon the letter of 
Charles Upson Clark, regarding the nationalit)' of 
the inhabitants of the district of Korytsa? 

In the first place, we notice with regret that Mr. 
Clark is very inaccurately informed on the historical 
and ethnological facts dealing with Epirus. He claims 
that Jannina has been conquered by the Greeks and 
Hellenized. Z. D. Ferriman, one of the foremost 
British journalists, who has known Epirus through 
years of travel there, writes in the Daily Chronicle, 
April 17, 1914: 

"When Athens was in darkness, the appanage of a 
eunuch in the seraglio at Stamboul, Jannina was a 
focus of Greek learning. It is a matter of wonder 
that Epirus had to wait so long for her emancipation 
while other regions which deserved it less have long 
enjoyed it. Districts as Greek and as cultured as 
Jannina, Argyrocastron. Moschopolis, and Korytsa, 
where a Greek printing press was established nearly 
200 years ago, have been excluded from Greece, be- 
cause a company of gentlemen seated around a green 
table in London have drawn a line on a map and 
decreed otherwise." 

Has Mr. Clark read Pouqueville, or Lamouche 
(whom the Albanians delight to quote) ? Has he read 
Mr. Rene Puax's work, "La Malheureuse Epire," the 
correspondence in 1913 from Northern Epirus by 
Mr. Butler in the Daily Mail, Mr. Stevens in the 
Daily Telegraph, De Jessen in the Matin, Charles 
Vellay in the Journal, Magrini in the Secolo, and Eng- 
nath in the Koelnische Zcitungf 

If he has not read this cloud of eyewitnesses, how 
can he do justice to a cause which has cost the 
Northern Epirotes nine months of war against Al- 
bania, in 1914? 

Mr. Clark ascribes to us "animus against Italy." 
We have no quarrel with the Italian people, for whose 
independence, in 1856, no other nation, except the 
French, did so much as the Greek nation. That we 
have grievances against the imperialist government 
of Italy is not a secret. All Americans know the 
selfish foreign policy of Italy. Every effort on the 
part of Mr. Clark to whitewash it will only evoke the 
pity of all right-thinking people for his un-American 

Mr. Clark claims to have received information that 
the Italian forces of occupation in Northern Epirus 
have not closed the Greek schools, and so on. Like 
the rest of his information, this, too, is absolutely 
inaccurate. The Italians, since June 3, 1917, have 
closed down the 260 Greek schools in the territory 
they occupied. They have forced the parents to send 
their children to Italian schools, where the Albanian 
language is taught only two hours per week, whereas, 
the Greek language has been altogether banished. 
The leaders of the Greek communities are in prisons 
in Sicily and Tripoli because they have refused to turn 
into Albanians. 



But have the Italians been more generous to the 
Albanians than to the Greeks? Decidedly no. Un- 
der the title, "Albanians kill officials, peril for Italian 
control," the correspondent of the Chicago Tribune 
sent on July 4, 1919, a long cable, in which we read: 
"Details which have reached me from the surest 
possible sources indicate the Italians are paying a 
heavy price for the privilege of occupying Albania. 
Responsible men who have closely observed the re- 
cent assassinations of Italian officials by Moslem Al- 
banians, state that they mark a sudden revulsion of 
feeling against Italian occupation. Animosity against 
the occupants is becoming fiercer every day." 

And now a word as to the inaccuracy of Mr. Clark, 
relative to the Greek school. Mr. Clark is using the 
useless argument which appears in every Albanian 
and Bulgarian propagandist pamphlet, namely, that 
the Greek schools in Korytsa have been forced upon 
the natives by the Greeks. Indeed, only Mr. Clark 
has dared to make a statement that the Greek schools 
of Korytsa were not built and supported by the na- 
tives themselves. 

Korytsa's schools were flourishing in the ISth cen- 
tury, long before Athens had had a single Greek 
school. It is so strange that Mr. Clark does not 
know such a cardinal historical fact! 

Then, Mr. Clark claims that Albanian schools were 
not permitted, and the inhabitants had to send their 
children to the Greek schools. Now perhaps, Mr. 
Clark does not know that there existed in Korytsa, 
under Abdul Hamid, one Albanian school ; that since 
1915, when the republic of Korytsa was established, 
the French authorities have given complete freedom 



to all races to have their own schools. What has 
been the result? We read in reports published in 
numerous papers in America : 

"Goritza, Albania, May 19 (By Mail)— An Am- 
erican commission has been here to determine what 
the opinion of the population of Albania is with 
regard to their national future. The commission, 
which arrived soon after an American Red Cross 
unit of 30 people under Major Glenfred C. Bellis, was 
received with great enthusiasm. 

"Two thousand pupils of the Greek schools waved 
Greek and American flags, and cheered as the dele- 
gates entered Goritza. Albanian gendarmes attempted 
to prevent the pupils from manifesting their senti- 
ments, but were driven off by the French authorities." 

The public gave an ovation to the American com- 
mittee, and they and their parents shouted "Long 
live America ; long live union with Greece !" We 
suppose Mr. Clark is not in possession of these facts, 
else how could he imagine that patriotic Albanians 
would send their children to the schools of the hated 
Greeks, and cry, "union with Greece" ? 

In the districts occupied by Italy, where the 260 
Greek schools have been closed, the Greek Northern 
Epirotes refuse to send their children to the Italo- 
Albanian schools. As under the terrible days of 
the red Sultan, the Greeks keep their schools and 
churches in their cellars, because to be a Greek and 
to admit it in Northern Epirus, where Italy rules, is 
a crime for which you may be assassinated. This is 
the case of Northern Epirus if Mr. Clark cared to 
learn and speak out the truth like an American. 
Respectfully, 

P. Hector. 



APPENDIX IV 



Mr. John Gorgolis, June 13, 1919 

1506 Belfield Avenue, 
Atlantic City, N. J. 
Dear Sir: 

I have investigated the religious and political or- 
ganizations of Atlantic City, and I find that there is 
no religious body or incorporation of ALBANIANS. 
I am veiy much in touch with the religious life of 
Atlantic City, and I am very sure that the statement 
I make above is perfectly correct. 

Very sincerely yours, 

H. M. Mellen, 

Per K. McE. 
Certified to by Harry Bacharad, Mayor 



STATE OF MAINE 



County of Androscoggin, 
State of Maine 

This is a statement of the various estimates of the 
Albanian population of the city of Lewiston. It 
ranges from 45 to 50 and as high as 60. Of these 
there is said to be about 15 Mohammedans. 

R. J. Lawton, 
City Clerk of Lewiston. 
April 15, 1919. 



CITY OF BANGOR, MAINE 
Mayor's Office 



I, John F. Woodman, Mayor of the city of 
hereby certify that there is no society, association, or 
organization of any kind in this city of Albanians 
so far as I have knowledge. 

Dated at Bangor, Maine, this 30th day of April, 
1919. 

(Signed) John F. Woodman, 

Mayor of Bangor. 



Main Office, 

Stafford Springs, Conn. 

THE FABYAN woolen COMPANY 

Fabyan, Conn., March 25, 1919. 

His Excellency Carapanos, 
Paris, France. 

I, the Selectman of the town of Thompson and 
Fabyan, representing 4,800, among whom there are 
50 from the district of Liaskoviki and of surrounding 
towns of Northern Epirus. They are protesting 
against some Albanians, who sent a false cable to the 



Peace Conference, stating that there were not in the 
above towns anything but Albanians, which is not the 
truth. They are only Greeks, their wish being to be 
united with Mother Greece. 

Signature, 

Leon N. Walker. 



To Whom It May Concern : 

This is to certify that to the best of our knowledge 
there is dwelling in Marlborough, Mass., a total num- 
ber of 35 Albanians, no Mohammedans, 35 Christians. 
There are no societies with membership. There are 
no Albanian communities. 

(Signed) Charles F. McCarthy, 

Mayor. 



Bath, Maine, May 19, 1919. 
To Pan-Epirotic Union, 

Boston, Mass. 
Gentlemen : 

This is to certify that after numerous inquiries 
from men in a direct position to know, we, the un- 
dersigned, believe that there are only 33 Albanians in 
the city of Bath, Maine. 

Of these 33, there are 20 Christians and 13 Mo- 
hammedans. 

There are several of these men who wear the 
"Vatra Union" button. We should say that only 
about half of these people wear any button at all. 

There are no Albanian churches or schools in the 
city of Bath, Maine. 

J. G. Drake, 

Mayor of Bath. 
Abeam C. Oliver, 

City Marshall of Bath. 



To Whom It May Concern : 

This is to certify that to the best of our knowledge 
there is dwelling in Biddeford and Saco. Maine, 
United States of America, the said cities of Biddeford 
and Saco being one community and located upon both 
banks of the Saco River, a narrow stream which sepa- 
rates them, a total number of Albanians (Moham 
medans) amounting to 400, and 17 Christians; that 
there is only one Albanian society, viz.. Vatra ; that 
the membership of said society is 127, of which mem- 
bership 110 are Mohammedans and 17 are Christians; 
that the 17 Christians in said society are from the 
cities of Coritsa and Argyrocastron and vicinity ; 
that there is no Albanian community in said Bidde- 
ford or Saco. 

Edmond Bergeron, 

City Clerk of said . 
Thomas Stone, 

Chief of Police of . 
Ernest H. Mills, 

City Clerk of said Saco. 

JusTis B. Cobb. 



iddeford. 
iddeford. 



CITY OF LOWELL 
Office of the Superintendent of Police 

Lowell, Mass., May 6, 1919. 

To Whom It May Concern : 

This is to certify that to my knowledge, I never 
heard of an Orthodox Albanian Church in the city 
of Lowell, neither have I heard of an Albanian com- 
munity organization in this city. 

Respectfully yours, 

Redmond Welch, 
Superintendent of Police. 



Braddock, Pa., May 21, 1919. 



Pan-Epirotic Union, 
Boston, Mass. 



Your circular letter of April 27th at hand with 
copy of despatch from Boston by the Orthodox Al- 
banian Communities in the United States, attached. 

On the face of the despatch it appears that dele- 
gates representing the above-named church from 
Braddock signed the same, whereas, upon investiga- 
tion, we find no church or denomination in this town, 
never has been and not enough people at the present 
time to organize any size church. From personal 
interviews we find a few Albanians in Braddock, but 
they all deny allegiance to the church named in copy 
of despatch. We have a society in this town of about 
80 members who profess to be Albanians, but who 
are not Christians, calling themselves Mohammedans, 
and they surely can have no connection with the 
Christian church. 

From our conversations with a few of the leading 
Greek merchants here, we are forced to express the 
opinion that an injustice is being done a lot of 
people who never even authorized an expression of 
their views in the much complicated affairs of the 
present Peace Conference. 

If we can be of any further service to you in this 
matter, we are yours to command. 

Yours very truly, 

George Ziacon, 
James J. McCarthy, 

Chief of Police. 



APPENDIX V 



105 West 40th Street (Room 1204), 

New York City, May 2, 1919. 

His Excellency Alexander Carapanos, 
17, Rue Auguste Vacquerie, 
Paris, France. 
Your Excellency: 

After due investigation, we have found the fol- 
lowing facts to be true relative to the number of 
Albanians in this country (compare with table and 
enclosed affidavits) : 

1. Only 25 of our branches have hastened to reply. 
From these 25 affidavits we gather that (1) 
there are not more than four Albanian Or- 
thodox communitifs. 

2. Twelve States of the Union are covered. 

3. There are in 2i cities enumerated 733 Ortho- 
dox Albanians and 340 Mussulmans, or a total 
of 1,573 Albanian natives of Northern Epirus 

4. There are 606 Albanians outside the limits o 
Northern Epirus. 

5. The total number of Albanians in the 23 cities 
which are the most important centers of Al 
banians, rises in all to 2,179. 

6. The membership of the Vatra is 1,204 Albani 
ans (Christians and Mussulmans from North 
ern Epirus and from without). 

7. There are only 16 branches of this society. 
We wish to call your attention to certain facts 

which tend to show that the United States census 
figures about Albanians are correct : 

1. The other 29 cities in the cable published in 
the New York Herald of April 1, 1919, are places 
where only a few tens of Albanians are to be found. 
We shall report on them at our earliest opportunity. 
We are investigating. The number in these 29 cities 
cannot be even one-half of that in the cities we 
have tabulated. But let us give the benefit of the 
doubt to the Albanians, and count as many Albanians 
in the 29 cities as there are in the 23. We shall have 
not more than 5.000 Albanians in the United States 
at the most. 

2. In the tables, wherever a branch did not report 
the number of Moslems, we have put the entire num- 
ber to the credit of Christian Albanians. And wher- 
ever there is no mention as to the native place, we 
have again credited the Albanians by placing the 
number under the column indicating natives of 
Northern Epirus. 

You will see, then. Your Excellency, that we have 
put everything so that we may obtain the maximum 
number for the Albanians 



May we also call your attention to some methods 
used by the Albanians in America to deceive the 
Peace delegates? 

Cables have been sent, we are informed, and signed 
by would-be 200 Albanians, whereas there were only 
20 in that locality. 

Mussulmans are induced to sign Christian names 
in order to indicate that the Orthodox Albanians are 
numerous. 

Five or ten of them, as may be easily seen from 
the table, are made to cable, to mislead the Peace 
delegates to imagine that a large number of Al- 
banians are sending the cable. We urge that the 
American delegates be asked to investigate both our 
numbers and those of the Albanians. We have al- 
ways tried to tell the whole truth, and have often 
stated much lower figures for ourselves than the 
actual numbers. 

Your Excellency may perhaps ask how these few 
Albanians support their propaganda. I must state 
certain results of my investigation. Before the ar- 
mistice I was connected with the United States De- 
partment of Justice (unofficially). I was told by the 
Department of Justice that Rev. Fan-Noli, the leader 
of the Vatra here, was in the pay of the Austrian 
Government. This fact is known to many Americans 
in Boston. 

Italy was paying, through her Consulate in Boston, 
a certain Albanian from Korytsa, Dako. Such was 
the animosity aroused between Fan-Noli and Dako 
that they attacked each other in their newspapers. 
Dako accused Fan-Noli of being an Austrian agent 
and Fan-Noli accused Dako of being an Italian agent. 

The Department of Justice assured me that both 
were right. 

Before the armistice, Fan-Noli openly prayed for 
William of Wied, and said that the only hope for 
Albania was an Austrian victory. 

After the armistice, Fan-Noli turned to Italy, and 
to-day the Vatra is taking a leading part in trying 
to exonerate Italy from her criminal actions in 
Northern Epirus. 

It is easy to understand that Italy is paying the 
Albanians in America. 

Enclosed kindly accept copies of cables sent to 
President Wilson and to the Temps. 

We will appreciate it if we could learn of the 
activities of Rev. Erickson at Paris. We have been 
informed that the Board of Missions has recalled hiin. 

Respectfully, 
Director Pan-Epirotic Union in America. 



APPENDIX V 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

December 18, 1919 
Worcester, ss. 

Affidavit of 

I of the 

City of Worcester, County of Worcester, Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts, formerly of Frastani, Prov- 



ince of Argyrakostro, North Epirus, do, under oath, 
depose and say that Louis Pantos, President of the 
Albanian Federation Vatra, Worcester Branch, who 
is now in Corytsa, North Epirus, offered me money 

and other emoluments, if I, the said 

would sign a statement that I 

was of Albanian nationality instead of Greek nation- 



ality, the said statement being as of May 10, 1919, 
in consideration of which I was to receive a lucra- 
tive position in Albania. 

In witness whereof I hereunto set my hand the 
day first above mentioned. (1) 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
Worcester, ss. 



The 



personally appe 



the above-named 



and made oath that the above statement subscribed 
by him is true to the best of his knowledge and belief. 
Before me, 

Stephen H. Bennit 

Justice of the Peace 
My commission expires January 23, 1925 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts 

December 18, 1919 
Worcester, ss. 

Affidavit of 

I of the 

City of Worcester, County of Worcester, Common- 
wealth of Massachusetts, formerly of Vouno Province 
of Chimara, do, under oath, depose and say that 
Louis Pantos, President of the Albanian Federation 
Vatra, Worcester Branch, who is now in Corytsa, 
North Epirus, offered me money and other emolu- 
ments if I, the said 

would sign a statement that I was of Albanian na- 
tionality instead of Greek nationality, the said state- 
ment being as of May 10, 1919, in consideration of 
which I was to receive a lucrative position in Al- 
bania. (1) 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
Worcester, ss. 
Then, personally appeared the above-named 

and made oath that the above statement subscribed 
by him is true to the best of his knowledge and belief. 
Before me, 

Stephen H. Bennit 

Justice of the Peace 
My commission expires January 23, 1925 



Affidavit 



.of. 



in the City of Worcester, County of Worcester, Com- 
monwealth of Massachusetts, being first duly sworn, 
deposes and says that he was born in Caroci, Prov- 
ince of Delvino, North Epirus, that he had been re- 
quested to change his present nationality of Greek to 
that of .A.Ibanian, and that in consideration of same he 
has been offered a lucrative position and other emolu- 
ments if he, the said 

and other men of his nationality from said North 
Epirus would vote and change into said Albanian na- 
tionality, said consideration, promises, and induce- 
ments have been made to me as well as to others of 
said Greek nationality by Louis Pantos from the city 
of Corytsa, President of the Albanian Federation 
Vatra, Worcester Branch. 

And the said deponent further deposes and says 
that said offer was made to him in the city of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts, on the fifteenth day of May, 
1919. (1) 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts 
Worcester, ss. 

Then, personally appeared before me the said 

and made oath that the above statement was made of 
his own free will and absolutely true to the best of 
his knowledge and belief. 

John C. Mahoney 

Notary Public 
My commission expires July 1. 1921 



(') Owing to the fact that the Albanians are using vio- 
lent means for intimidating the Epirotes who have the 
courage to sign the memoranda of the Pan-Epirotic Union, 
the Union does not consider it always safe to divulge the 
signatures of those who have given us the affidavits. The 
original affidavits, however, have been deposited with the 
State Department which will be thus enabled to investigate 
and establish the truth. 



APPENDIX VII 



STATE DEPARTMENT 
Washington 

December 19, 1919. 
League of Friends of Greece in America, 
Boston, Massachusetts 



Genltemen: 

I am sorry that I am not able to find the Albanian 
memorandum and signatures about which you ask. 
(Signed) Breckinridge Long, 

Third Assistant Secretary of State. 



APPENDIX VIII 



New York Times, July 13, 1919 

DEFENDS EPIROTES HERE 

Cass-WETES Says They only Tell the Truth 

ABOUT Italy's Aggression 

N. J. Cassavetes, Director of the Pan-Epirotit 



Union in America, in a statement issued yesterday, 
took exception to the assertions concerning his or- 
ganization made recently by Charles Upson Clark, 
a member of the American Academy at Rome. 

"It is true that our union, like other national 
unions, has been organized for the purpose of bring- 



ing to the attention of the American people the facts 
in the case of Northern Epirus," he said. "We 
know that the people of America want to know 
the facts, and we have tried to the best of our ability 
to tell the whole truth in our case. We are striving 
for liberty. We are endeavoring to secure our union 
with our mother country, Greece. That is all of our 
terrible sin that has aroused the ire of Mr. Clark." 

Mr. Cassavetes said that Mr. Clark evaded the real 
issue, "which is that Northern Epirus is Greek in the 
large majority ; that Italy has invaded the province 
without a mandate from her allies." 

"She had a mandate for Valona, but not for 
Northern Epirus," continued Mr. Cassavetes. "She 
has shut down 260 Greek schools, driven away the 
Greek clergy, exiled the leaders of the Greek com- 
munities, imported Moslem Albanians from Central 
Albania to terrorize the Christians into Italianization, 
has founded Italian schools, to which the Greek 
Christians refuse to send their children ; gives in- 
structions only in Italian and two hours per week 
in Albanian, aiming at Italianizing both Greeks and 
Albanians. 

"Are these facts, or are they not? Let not Mr. 
Clark evade an answer to these questions. That is 
the issue. 

"Today Northern Epirus is not free to express 
its national will. To speak Greek there is a crime. 
To refuse to sign a petition to the Peace Conference 
that you want Italian rule constitutes high treason 



for which you may be assassinated over night by 
the famous Albanian bands of Guegaria, As to 
whether or not the Albanians want Italian rule, we 
state that only a month ago the Albanian delegation 
from America addressed a strong protest to the 
Peace Council against any Italian interference. 

"When Mr. Clark makes the implication that the 
Greek Government was not tolerant of the Moslems 
in Northern Epirus, he shows how very little he 
knows both of Northern Epirus and the Greek Gov- 



"In 1915 the British Minister went to Mr. Venizelos 
and asked him to reoccupy Northern Epirus in order 
that the Moslem Albanians, who, after the departure 
of the Greek Government from Northern Epirus, 
had been driven out of the province during the nine 
months' revolutionary war against Albania by the 
Northern Epirotes, might return to their homes. Mr. 
Venizoles asked if Italy would consent. The British 
Minister consulted the Italian Government, which 
agreed only under the condition that Italy occupy 
Valona. Now, Britain, France, Russia, and Italy, in 
having asked Greece to reoccupy the province, knew 
better than did Mr. Clark that the Greek Government 
would be a protector of, and not a butcher of, the 
Moslems. And the Greek Government was so kind 
that to-day, if the Italians evacuate the province and 
the United States occupies it for six months and 
applies a plebiscite, the majority of the Moslems 
would vote in favor of Greek rule." 



APPENDIX IX 



KoRYTSA, Northern Epirus, 

December 25, 1919 

"Continuing what has taken place in Korytsa, I 
inform you that the French authorities have given 
permission, besides the city of Korytsa, to only twelve 
Greek villages to open the Greek schools. These 
villages are Darda, Vithcouki, Sinitsa, Viglista, 
Grapsa, Yourassi, Polena, Phloki, Progri, Hotsista, 
and Bratvitsa, which had last year 1,150 pupils and 
this year many more. Twenty more Greek villages 
have asked the French authorities permission to re- 
open their schools. The French Military Governor 
at Korytsa receives daily such petitions. 

"The Albanians are employing a hundred ways 
of forcing the inhabitants to accept Albanian teach- 
ers ; but the villages either drive them out or leave 
them without pupils and thus force them to go of 
their own accord. The Greek population prefers to 
have its children remain illiterate rather than to 
send them to Albanian schools. I give you examples : 
In the village of Zetsista the children refused to 
attend school where an Albanian teacher was sent 
by the Albanian authorities to teach the Albanian 
language. In other villages where the Albanians 
have imposed upon the Greek inhabitants Albanian 
teachers, these teachers have either been forced to 
abandon their posts or to remain at them merely to 
draw their salaries without having anybody to teach. 
In the purely Mohammedan villages only a small 
number of Albanian children attend the few Albanian 
schools. You can imagine that in spite of all sorts 
of pressure exerted by the Albanian gendarmerie in 



the entire district of Korytsa outside the city, the 
Albanians have not succeeded in enrolling more than 
700 pupils, and they are practically all Mohamme- 
dans. But the Albanians prepare false statistics 
with the intention of deceiving the foreigners who 
are ignorant of the local conditions. In Darda the 
Greek schools have an enrollment of 200. The Al- 
banian school only 18; in Hotsista, the Greek school 
250, and the Albanian school last year only 10. 
This year the school has not even opened its gates. 

"I now come to the question of the Albanian po- 
lice force. As I have already wired you, all the evil 
elements of the district have enrolled in the notorious 
Albanian police force. Not a single decent citizen has 
enrolled in it. Only 15 Greeks serve as assistants to 
the French police force. The Albanian policemen are 
a veritable scourge to the Christian villages. Fortu- 
nately, for some time now the French Governor sends 
French policemen to the Christian villages instead 
of Albanians as before. 

"I mention only a few of the crimes committed by 
the Albanian police force in the last few months un- 
der the very eyes of the so-called Albanian Govern- 
ment in Korytsa. The Moslem Albanian Corporal 
Safetk Potomi, killed in Darda on the 20th of June, 
the Greek Kolia Pappas. This policeman was cap- 
tured and imprisoned, but was very soon released 
with the assistance of his Albanian colleagues. The 
same policeman killed on the 7th of September the 
Greek Constantine Polica, and wounded many others. 
The Moslem Albanian policeman, Ahous Souleiman, 
attempted, on the 25th of August, to assassinate in 



the city of Korytsa the Greek S. Panarite, who re- "In another message I intend to inform you how 
ceived two bullets, but has escaped death. The AI- the Albanian Club of Koo'tsa spread out false news 
banian policeman, Tsanl, was sent by his superiors of a reported advance of the Greek troops in Ko- 
to escort the Greek merchant, Kalemeran, from the rytsa. This same club urged 500 Albanians who had 
village Dousari to the village Gergevitsa. The said been more or less implicated in activities against the 
Albanian policeman, having understood that the Greeks to run away from Korytsa and telegraphed to 
Greek merchant was carrying money with him, killed Europe that 15,000 Albanians had fled from Korytsa. 
him. The murders and assassinations committed by "(Signed) Adamides." 
the members of the Albanian police force are very 
numerous to be enumerated. 




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